A Recollection of Memories
by eternallyyours4ev
Summary: A collection of Gabriel and Mrs. Agreste stories.
1. Confessions

"What are you thinking about?" Elise asked as he adjusted the trim of the dress that she was wearing.

Gabriel glanced up at her. "Nothing really, why do you ask?"

She turned her head slightly towards him, but not so much that it would mess up her position.

"You just seem so… distracted today. Is there something on your mind?"

He curtly replied that there wasn't, averting his gaze back onto his work. He sewed in several more stitches before reaching for the scissors, and cutting the remaining string.

Standing up, he began to place the materials back in a drawer.

Elise slowly walked over to him, placing her hand on his shoulder. He half turned around, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.

"What is it?" He mumbled.

She dropped her hand and sighed.

"Gabriel, speak to me. Just tell me what's on your mind for once."

He turned around fully now, stepping closer to her, before leaning down until their heads nearly touched.

His eyes met hers, burning with intensity.

Her heart raced widely, a slight blush crept across her checks. She thought she was dreaming. Gabriel had never approached her as close as he did now, yet his blue eyes were mere inches away from hers.

Unexpectedly, he leaned forward and kissed her. Not knowing what to do, she just stood there in a state of shock.

He pulled away from her quickly, his expression unreadable.

He then walked out the door.

She stood still for a moment, not really comprehending what was going on, before racing after him.

"Gabriel!" She called after him.

He stopped but kept his back to her.

She tried to keep her voice from shaking. "Please turn around…"

He slowly turned towards her, but kept his distance.

He finally broke the silence. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted so rashly… It might be best if you leave now." He glanced down at the floor and began to make his way down the opposite hallway.

Elise stared after him in shock." Gabriel… It's really not a problem. I was actually waiting for you to do that for a while now." She admitted with a nervous chuckle.

He stopped walking and turned around. He looked completely taken back by this.

"You were?"

She nodded her head sheepishly as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I really like you, Gabriel, I was just too afraid to say it. I thought you wouldn't feel the same, and that we would go about separate ways like strangers if I told you."

Gabriel continued to stare at her, his expression still seemed to be that of surprise.

She looked away from him and gripped the skirting of the dress.

"But I understand if you don't feel the same way... We can act as if nothing happened, or we can part ways. Whatever you feel more comfortable with." She tried to keep her voice leveled, but it shook nonetheless, and the tears that she tried to hold in trailed down her face.

Gabriel still remained silent, but now looked away from her. She couldn't bear to see what his expression could possibly be, so she turned around and walked back into the bathroom where her clothes rested on the counter.

She wiped the tears away and the makeup that was beginning to run down her face, changing back into the outfit that she wore before.

She took several deep breaths to compose herself, before stepping out.

Opening the door, she noticed Gabriel standing across the room, his arms crossed.

He glanced up at her, and met her eyes, which held a look of concern.

She sniffled. "What do you want?"

He seemed taken back by this. "You do know that you never let me explain how I felt?"

Elise glanced down at the floor, expecting the worst. "Go on…"

"I don't want to part ways at all."

She quickly glanced up at him again, confused by what he was saying.

A slight blush spread across his face, he looked off in thought for some time, before speaking again. "I feel the same way about you. I really like you a lot, and didn't know how to say it, or when to show my feelings…I'm not very good with words as you can tell."

She stepped closer to him, hesitantly taking her hands in his.

He looked down at their hands intertwined, a small smiled then formed on his lips.

"We don't have to rush this…Us." She reassured him.

He chuckled to himself. "There's no rush." He agreed in a soft tone.

"But can I ask you one thing?"

"And what might that be?" Gabriel responded.

"Can you kiss me again?" She asked nervously.

He blushed before leaning down towards her. "How could I ever deny that request?"


	2. The Catastrophic Cold

Gabriel awoke feeling absolutely terrible.

His head was pounding, his body ached all over, and the sneezing that appeared out of nowhere seemed to be endless.

He groaned as he got out of bed. Making his way to the bathroom, he took a nice warm bath to see if that would help relieve his symptoms any. It didn't do much. He flopped back down on his bed in defeat.

Phoning his work- his fashion company, he informed Nathalie, as well as his other assistant's to handle the mandatory things that needed to be done in his absence.

He absolutely never called out for anything, especially because of a petty cold. Yet here he was, staying at home feeling like death.

The phone rang shortly after he hung up. He slowly picked it up, and answered it. "Hello?"

"Gabriel? Are you OK? I was just informed that you wouldn't be at work today." A surprised voice on the line said.

He tried his hardest not to sound congested. "I'm fine, nothing to worry about, Elise."

"Oh god… Are you OK? You certainly do sound sick! "

He covered a sneeze. "It's just a cold. I can handle this."

"À vos souhaits! Well, whether you like it or not, I'm coming over anyways." Before he could respond the phone cut off. He sighed as he hung it up.

There was no stopping Elise now that she was on her way, so he put on a robe, a pair of pajama pants and waited.

He heard the familiar buzz of the alarm alerting that someone was outside the gate. Gabriel pressed the button, allowing the gates to open and walked over to greet her at the front door.

He really didn't want her to see him like this. He felt like he looked absolutely terrible, not to mention, he didn't want to risk her getting sick as well.

He tried to keep his distance, but she ran up to him anyways. She wrapped her arms around him in an embrace.

"Oh my goodness!"

She unwrapped her arms from around him, and put the back of her hand against his forehead.

She frowned. "You certainly are warm..." She then took his hand, "you're going straight to bed."

He chuckled to himself. "That's what I was doing before I had to get up and answer the door. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself you know." He said with a sneeze. "And I don't want you to get sick as well. Go home. Take precaution to ensure that you won't catch what I'm having now."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'll be fine. I almost never get sick anyways."

Gabriel shook his head and sighed. "You were warned."

They eventually made their way to his room.

Gabriel began to feel too warm, so he threw off his robe onto the floor and made his way into bed. Elise was caught off guard by this, causing her to pause and stare at him. He caught her gaze.

"I-uh, I'll just put this up for you..." She walked over and picked up the robe, trying hard not to stare at his bare chest.

This was the first time she'd ever see Gabriel dress immodestly. 'He must be really sick.' She thought to herself.

She put the robe away, and fiddled with her fingers as she looked nervously away from him. "I guess I'll go stop by and ask your chef to make you some soup. That always helps me when I'm sick."

He gave her a look of bewilderment. "Do you know the way?"

"I'm pretty sure I do, and if not, I'll find it eventually." Elise said with a smile.

He nodded his head, grabbing a nearby book from the nightstand and began to read it.

Elise walked downstairs. Gabriel's mansion wasn't as confusing as she thought it would be. It was actually pretty easy to figure out. In no time, she made her way to the kitchen and made her request. Once the food was ready, she carried it up on a tray to his room. He glanced up at her as she entered, putting the book back down on the nightstand.

"You didn't get lost did you?"

She shook her head. "No, I actually found it straight away. It was pretty easy to find. Now, where do you want this?"

He got out of bed and went to the closet for his robe, placing it back on. "Here, I'll take it."

He took the tray from her, and began to walk out of the room.

Elise gave him a look of confusion. "Gabriel? Where are you going?" She yelled out as she ran after him.

He stood in front of a closed door. "Could you get the door please?"

She reached out and opened it.

"Thank you." He said with a small smile.

The room was smaller than the others in the house. It was pale white, and did not have many furnishings either. There was a round coffee table sitting in front of a large red sofa, and nearby that was one of the biggest TV's she had ever seen. If not for the huge TV, the room looked as if it could belong to any average home owner. Now that she thought about it, it looked almost out of place in the mansion.

"Wow…"

He turned towards her. "What?"

"The room just looks so… normal." She chuckled.

He shrugged and placed the tray down on the table.

"It's my secret room. I go down here to relax every now and then to escape from my job."

Sitting down on the sofa, he gestured for her to take a seat next to him.

She walked and sat down.

Elise gave him a look of puzzlement. "Do you feel well enough to be down here?"

He picked up the soup. "I'm fine. I don't feel like laying down anyways."

He then handed her the remote. "Here, you can put something on TV if you want."

She nodded, pressed the on button, and began to flip through the channels, leaving it on a sitcom that she tended to enjoy. They chatted about the show for some time, before Gabriel began to get quieter than he usually was.

Elise checked her watch. It was nearly ten at night.

"I think it's best if I get ready to leave."

He didn't respond.

She looked over at him, and seen that he had fallen asleep. She reached over carefully to take his glasses off.

He grabbed her hand. "Stay..." He mumbled.

"I will." She told him.

She glanced around nervously. She was feeling quiet tired but didn't think it would be comfortable for either of them if she chose to stay on the couch. "I guess I'll go to sleep in your room then…"

He didn't respond to this, he turned over, appearing to be asleep.

Elise walked up to his room and shut the door. She then sat down on his bed.

This was one of the first times she had ever stayed the night at Gabriel's house. She imagined that she would be more anxious about it when it actually came down to sleeping over, but it was actually nothing to be nervous about at all.

Then, reality hit. She recalled that she was actually sitting on Gabriel's bed. She blushed as she began to pull the covers around her, and laid down. For a while her mind pondered over the day's events, before she somehow blissfully drifted asleep.

The next several days were the same. Elise would leave to do her modeling shoots. She went home whenever she needed to shower or freshen up, but she always returned to his home whenever she finished with everything that she needed to do.

Elise tried to help Gabriel get better faster; helping him out and trying to take care of him so that his sickness went away as quick as possible.

They often sat in the living room watching TV shows while talking. She even helped him complete some of the work he did at home considering that he stubbornly refused to not do at least some work while he was out.

And always by the end of the day, Gabriel would suddenly fall asleep (most likely due to his sickness and his tiring work ethics), cueing Elise to retreat up to his room and go to sleep as well.

It was nice staying at his house. It was better than staying at her apartment alone. Yet when she woke up one particular morning, something wasn't right. Her head was pounding, and she felt weakened, like she was coming down with a sickness as well.

'There's no way. I refuse to believe that I'm getting sick.' She thought to herself, and so, Elise ignored these feelings and persevered through the day.

When she was finished with her daily tasks, she groggily walked into his house, and was surprised to see him up and dressed, looking much better than before.

She smiled. "It seems you've gotten better."

He nodded his head. "Yes, I definitely feel much better than before."

She walked over to him to kiss him on the check, before overwhelming dizziness nearly made her collapse to the floor. He quickly ran over to her, steadying her. She leaned against him, black spots began to dance before her eyes.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, it's no big deal." She laughed weakly.

Gabriel frowned and pressed the back of his hand to her head.

"No you're not. You're sick." He grumbled. "I knew this would happen..."

He put his arm around her and led her up the stairs to his room. "You're laying down right this instant."

She chuckled. "I supposed the roles have reversed then?"

He frowned. "Unfortunately it seems that way."

He helped her into bed, and placed the covers around her.

"I'll be heading off to work. I have a lot to catch up on, but I'll check up on you tonight." He began to walk away, but hesitated. He kissed her head, and then quickly walked off.

Elise blushed, pulling the covers over her face. She soon found herself drifting off to sleep.

…

She was awakened by the sound of footsteps coming into the room. She peered through her eyelashes at his silhouette in the doorway.

"Did I wake you?" He whispered.

"Doesn't matter." She mumbled. "I would have woken up anyway."

He walked into the room and felt her forehead again. "Your fever seems to have gone down… Precaution should still be taken nonetheless."

She put her hand over his. "Stay here with me…"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I want you to."

"Alright then… I'll be just a moment."

Gabriel walked off to the bathroom, returning several moments later.

He climbed into the other side of bed. "Good night." He said in a hushed tone.

She moved over to him, resting against his chest. He hesitantly put his arms around her, pulling her closer.

"You're hopeless." He said with a sigh.

She giggled softly. "I know…"

He kissed her check, and she peacefully drifted back to sleep in his arms.


	3. First Meetings

She remembered their first meeting as if it had only happened yesterday.

…

Elise took a deep breath before she entered the studio space.

She secretly worried to herself about who she would be assigned to model for.

Her mind was racing, and she was incredibly nervous no matter how much she tried to remain calm.

This was her second year in college, and it was already the second semester. Her love for fashion was what brought her here, and the opportunity that she was presented was an internship that she simply couldn't pass up.

Internships were hard to come by, especially for those who were starting out in college.

And out of the very few options she saw, this was by far the best one.

Yet, there was only one issue with it…

It was modeling.

She had never modeled before.

All she ever did was design occasionally and sew. Never did she imagine that she would be someone else's model to alter their clothing.

Although she wanted to design clothes, it was too soon and too rare to be given the opportunity to do so around the first couple years of college.

When she first signed up for it, she thought that modeling would be a new and interesting experience.

She never really considered that she would get it, but it was a chance worth taking to get somewhere in the fashion world, and she knew she had to take it.

But here now, walking into the actual studio itself, she had doubts. Of course she had some of them before, but never so much as she did now.

She thought about turning around and saying that she couldn't do it, or waiting for another internship to come up. But she knew this was a ridiculous way of thinking.

'It'll be OK' she thought to herself. 'You can do this.'

She breathed in and out again, then pushed the door open and walked in.

The room looked way bigger than she thought it would. There were all sorts of racks of fabric, tables, sewing machines, mannequins, and all sorts of items.

Most people were working on clothes at their stations, or altering them onto the people who were wearing them, whom she instantly knew to be models.

Few actually glanced up when she entered.

She nervously stepped farther into the room.

The woman that she spoke to during her interview approached her.

"Welcome! This is the studio that you will arrive to on the days that your schedule has you planned to come in." She beckoned Elise to follow her, to which she did.

They walked through the room, before stopping in front of a tall man with slicked back hair. He stood nearby a mannequin, fixing and adjusting a dress.

"Mr. Agreste?"

He stopped what he was doing and glanced over at them. His expression seemed stoic.

"Your model is here. I'll leave you to it now." She smiled as she patted Elise's shoulder before walking off.

Elise stood there feeling strangely shy. He remained silent, and turned back to his work. She hesitantly stepped closer to him.

"It's nice to meet you." She said with a smile, hoping that it would lessen some of the awkward tension between them.

There was a bit of silence between them again, before he eventually spoke up.

"I'm nearly finished with the dress. For now, you can sit over there and read some magazines if you'd like."

Elise felt taken back upon finally hearing him speak. "Oh, OK..." She said with a nod.

She glanced at the chair near his table, walking over to it and sitting down.

She abstinent mildly picked up a magazine, not really looking at the pages, as she glanced around the room.

Nearly everyone was talking or associating as they worked.

She peered at him as he silently sewed.

'Perhaps he's shy?' She thought to herself.

She continued to flip through the magazine, merely glancing at some of the fashion designs photographed across the pages.

Footsteps approached her.

"You may try it on now." He said as he handed her the folded dress.

"I'll show you to the changing room."

He walked her over to the changing station, upholding his stoic manner.

"I assume you know your way back from here?"

"I'm sure I can manage." She smiled.

He nodded then walked back.

Trying on the dress, she glanced at herself in the mirror before letting out a gasp.

The light green dress was cut beautifully. It was an off the shoulder column dress, and it seemed as if it fit her perfectly. There was some adjusting to do of course, but it didn't take away from how amazing she looked and felt in this dress.

Elise glanced at herself once more before picking up the dress train ever so carefully, and walked out of the changing room.

Some of the people glanced up at her. She felt a little shy knowing that their eyes were on her. She kept her head held high and walked back over to where Mr. Agreste would be.

He was standing nearby the table, lost in his sketching.

When she stopped across from him, he looked up at her.

He just stood there, merely staring at her.

She couldn't help herself, she blushed.

After all, now that she was able to take a better look at him, she did find him quite handsome...

"What do you think?" She carefully turned around showing off the dress.

His blue eyes met hers for a brief moment. "I-It suits you well."

He then quickly adverted his glance from her.

Walking back to his table, he took out a needle and a spool of thread that matched the color of the dress.

"Where is it especially loose on you?"

"The straps." she admitted with a blush.

He nodded his head.

"I was given your measurements earlier today. I altered some of it before you came, but I'll make more of the necessary adjustments now."

He went to work on pinning the straps to be the right length.

He looked over her once more, his gaze mostly stayed on the dress. "I'll take the waist in a couple more inches as well. You may change out of that, and back into your original clothes. I'll go to work on making the necessary adjustments."

She nodded and went to the changing room.

Taking the dress off ever so carefully, Elise changed into her normal clothes.

She walked back and handed him the dress.

He unfolded it quickly, laying it out on the table, and immediately started working on the adjustments.

Elise stood there dumbfounded for a moment.

Mr. Agreste stopped what he was doing and glanced over at her.

"You may sit down if you want. The adjustments will be done shortly."

"Oh, alright." She laughed nervously as she walked back over to the chair and picked up the magazine from where she placed it.

She flipped through the pages aimlessly, waiting for him to finish. She then sighed.

"Is something the matter?"

He was now looking at her.

Her eyes widened in shock.

"Oh, it's nothing actually. I'm sorry if I distracted you from your work."

She raised the magazine farther up to her face unknowingly.

She heard the scuff of a chair moving towards her.

Mr. Agreste had pulled up a chair and sat down across from her.

He sat in the most proper way she'd ever seen a man sit.

He now let out a sigh himself. "As you can most likely tell, I'm not so much of a conversationalist. I do apologize for that."

Elise blinked back at him, surprised by what he was saying.

She placed the magazine down.

"It's really not much of a problem, Mr. Agreste. There's no need to worry about it at all!"

He smiled sheepishly. "Please, call me Gabriel. No need for the formality."

She smiled at him and extended her hand. "Let's start over then. I'm Elise, nice to meet you."

He took her hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you Elise, I'm Gabriel."

Elise chuckled. "That's more like it."

He gave her a small smile, and stood up.

He picked up the dress off the table, handing it to her. "Would you mind trying it on again? I finished the alterations to it."

She nodded and took the dress from him. She walked back to the changing room and put the dress on again. I looked even better on her than it did the first time. She turned around ever so slowly, admiring how the dress looked on her.

'I could live in this dress forever.' She thought to herself.

She walked back out into the studio.

"That looks much better." He remarked.

"It really does. It's so beautiful."

He blushed slightly, and mumbled a quick thank you.

"I'll go change back now." She told him and walked to the dressing room.

She changed, and walked over to him, handing him the dress.

"Is that all for today?"

He put his glasses up on top of his head. "So it seems."

"I'll go on my way then. It was nice meeting you."

"You as well. Have a good day."

Elise walked away from him. She headed in the direction of the front of the room, signed out on the clipboard, and took her leave.

All the while, thoughts of the mysterious Gabriel Agreste began to flood her mind...


	4. All the Strings Attached

Elise held the front of the dress against her.

She had tried several times to tie the long laces running down her back, but to no avail. She just couldn't tie it right.

Growing frustrated by this, she knew she would have to ask him for help.

Although she knew she shouldn't be embarrassed, she felt so exposed. She couldn't help it.

'It's just Gabriel' she breathed in and out. 'It's no big deal. It's really nothing to be embarrassed about. It's not like you're only wearing lingerie, or doing anything you shouldn't be.' She reminded herself. This made her blush.

She tried to clear her mind, and took another deep breath. Before she could dawdle anymore and make up excuses to herself, she unlocked the door and called out to him.

"G-Gabriel…? Would you mind coming in here?"

Footsteps approached the door.

"Is there something wrong?" He answered calmly.

"I think I need some help lacing this up..."

A moment of silence passed.

"Is the door unlocked?"

"Yes." She said trying to keep the nervousness from creeping into her voice.

He opened the door slowly and looked in. His expression was as stoic as it always was.

Elise bit her lip and avoided his gaze. "I can't tie it. I've tried so many times already, but I just can't get it right." She sighed all the while trying hard to remain composed.

He walked behind her chuckling softly, his fingers finding the strings, and ever so carefully lacing up the back.

"I'd imagine this would be difficult to do this without assistance... " He finished lacing the dress up and tied it.

He now walked in front of her and opened the door. "There's no embarrassment in asking me for help… Well, that is if you need it." He looked away from her and cast his gaze at the floor.

"I understand that." She said as she shyly glanced at him.

He nodded his head and quickly turned away from her, walking back to his design room.

She picked the skirt of her dress up carefully, and trailed after him.

She now stood in the familiar spot that she had always stood when Gabriel went about with his alterations. His focus was on the skirting of the dress, adjusting the length and making sure it looked right with the bodice.

Although the days when they were partners in college were now over, she still helped him with modeling and making clothes for his fashion line.

She smiled to herself as she thought about their past together, and where they were at now in their relationship.

It was quiet a difference from going from never talking much, to becoming friends, and then dating as they were now.

He glanced up at her. "What are you smiling about?"

She blushed. "Nothing really…"

"You know you can tell me if you'd like." He raised his brow looking slightly perplexed.

"I was just thinking… About us."

"Oh. What about us…?"

She laughed softly to herself. "Just about how we were in the past… We were so distant from each other. I never dreamed that we would be the way we are now."

He stood up now, putting the needle and thread aside and took her hands in his.

Elise stared at their intertwined hands and looked up at him. Her heart skipped a beat, and her eyes fixated on the stormy blue color of his.

Without thinking, she stood up on her tiptoes, meeting her lips with his.

He didn't hesitate. In fact, he kissed her back more passionately than she ever thought he would.

Elise was a bit taken back from this. They of course had kissed before, but never as passionately as they were now.

He stopped kissing her and blushed. "I'm sorry…"

She shook her head. "Don't be! I was just a little caught off guard by that. Although, I don't have a problem with it." She laughed nervously. "In fact, I really enjoyed it…"

Gabriel gave her a look of shock. "You did?"

"Yes, and I wouldn't mind if you did it again." She said with a slight smirk.

He rolled his eyes, and leaned down close to her, taking her in his arms; initiating the kiss.

She wrapped her fingers in his hair. This kiss was more passionate than before, so much so, that when Gabriel slowly pulled away from their embrace, they were both gasping for air.

Suddenly, he took her hand in his, and they ran to his room. She giggled as they made their way to the door.

Once it was open, she walked over to the bed and laid back against it. He closed it and locked the door behind him.

Elise was feeling giddy. This was it.

Her heart was racing through her chest in anticipation.

He was crossing the room towards her, until the sound of a pager went off. He paused, and took it out of his pocket.

Elise slowly sat up, feeling slightly dejected.

The sound of a thump alerted her; the pager was now on the floor and turned off.

He now sat next to her on the bed.

"W-was that important?" She said pointing to the pager.

"Not in the least bit. You're the only thing that matters right now." He pulled her into his arms and held her close once more. They remained like this for a while.

Elise finally glanced up at him, meeting his gaze. He smiled at her, and leaned in to kiss her. Soon after, somewhere between this, he had started to unlace the dress that she had so much trouble with, and she had begun to unbutton his shirt.

…

When morning came, she awoke in his arms, the sheets sprawled around them.

He was looking at her dreamily. She never knew that she could ever feel this way about someone, as she felt about him.

And for the first time, Elise truly felt as if all was right in the world- lying here with the man she never thought she'd have the chance to love.


End file.
